Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches and Lectures

Date Range

2019-11-15 to 2019-11-18

Event Location / Date(s)

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Presentation Date

11-16-2019

Document Type

Paper

Description

How do people make decisions? Prior research focuses on how people's cost-benefit assessments affect which medical treatments they choose. We propose that people also worry about what these health decisions signal about who they are. Across four studies, we find that medication is thought to be the "easy way out", signaling a lack of willpower and character. These moral beliefs lower the appeal of medications. Manipulating these beliefs--by framing medication as a signal of superior willpower or by highlighting the idea that treatment choice is just a preference--increases preferences for medication.

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Psychology Commons

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